


Silence

by SweetsThief (DarkMuffin)



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Gen, Robin is however you wanna see them as again take your pick, So you just get more inner thoughts hell from poor sad thief boy, There's no actual dialogue in this bc I seem to be physically unable to write talking, Who's ready for more Gaius angst cause boy do I never seem to run out of it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-13 23:49:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7143521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkMuffin/pseuds/SweetsThief
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was silent the day he buried his morals.</p><p>It was silent the day he first stained his precious hands in blood.</p><p>It was silent the day he met them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silence

Silence.

He always lived in it. Breathing it in his veins and every step he made, silence. He never paid it much thought though, it was just white noise to him. Static rumbling quietly in his ears year after year as he was silent like the night, with the night. It came with his job, he supposed. No one ever warned him he'd have this eternal sound ringing in his head and heart for all his life, but he didn't mind.

It was silent the day he buried his morals.

It was silent the day he first stained his precious hands in blood.

It was silent the day he met them.

That's not to say Robin and the others were quiet, gods no. He could hear them coming a mile away, bar one soldier who always seemed to slip away in the blink of an eye. Nobody ever noticed him, however.

No, Robin was loud, very loud. Yet it was still silent to him. Same old, routine for a dirty thief. Steal. Stab. Silence. He didn't expect anything different, even as the rowdy group of noisemakers welcomed him to their cause. This was just another thing that would happen, then he'd move on again with the silence still ringing.

_Steal._

_Stab._

_Silence._

What he didn't count on however, was the tactician's stubborn efforts to make a friend of Gaius. Just the thought of it made him want to laugh, but he stilled his tongue lest he met the wrong end of a Thoron. 

It became a new routine for him. Robin would appear in his tent like clockwork every day, and they'd sit and talk about anything and everything. Sometimes meaningless, sometimes not. He didn't care much, the silence still filled his ears even as the other tried to talk to him. So he just sat, nodded, and waited for them to leave.

Whether he liked it or not, Gaius began to take note of the silence from Robin. The movements of their silent hands, the flick of their silent hair, their shining silent eyes. He'd never felt so unsure how he felt about silence in all his life until he was face to face with the tactician. From their point of view, there must be nothing but noise, noise, noise as they talked excitedly from topic to chatter with the thief. But he couldn't hear it, he never would, he thought. So he simply settled down besides his new 'friend' and soaked in their silence.

He liked this silence, even if it still hurt.

But one day, the clockwork stopped. 

Robin never came.

Gaius never tried to make a habit of worrying over others very much, but he hated the unexpected, it was never good. And loathe as he admits it, he found some comfort in Robin simply _being_ there. Waving their arms around excitedly against the white noise, mouth moving at a pace so fast it left even Gaius winded. He took peace in counting the quiet freckles dotting Robin's skin, from their warm, breathless cheeks to their worn scarred hands. They looked like the whole night sky came down and fell upon every inch of them. He liked it.

He might like them too, he mused, if not for this silent wall.

So off he went, slinking from tree to tree beneath the enclosing twilight. Dancing silently around twigs and fallen figs to a silent song as he traced a familiar shape of well-worn boots echoed in the mud below. He didn't think much of why they'd still be out so late, couldn't do that even if he wanted anyway. The silence tended to be so loud he couldn't think for himself for long, just moved without thinking, without thought.

Ah, there they are, he observed, there they were sitting loudly on a tree stump in a clearing. The moon was out now, and was drowning Robin in its light. Gaius almost swore he could hear something above the silence then, but it was gone as fast as it came. He moved closer. Robin saw him.

They ended up huddled together there on the tiny stump, chattering away about mindless things again, as though they were still in Gaius' tent and not out in the freezing cold wilderness. Gaius didn't question it however, he let Robin do what they needed to do. Rambling seemed to calm them down a lot, and Gaius could never complain about words he couldn't hear. He wondered if Robin knew, and that was why they always hung around the pitiable thief.

Then as if Robin had read his dammed thoughts, through the haze of muffled silence he could faintly hear them rattling on about how glad they were to hang around Gaius. How happy they were to have a shoulder to lean on when everyone else in the whole world leans on _them_. How grateful they were to have his comforting silence in their world of chaotic screaming noise, so, _so_ much noise. How much he meant to them and they just kept going on and on, but Gaius had tuned out to the silence again. He heart wasn't in the mood for the same lies he's heard before. Why bother listening to them? Even if it was coming from the stars themselves?

But then he realised Robin wasn't talking anymore, and he focused his distant eyes in them. 

They were looking at him.

He couldn't for the life of him figure out what look that was in their eyes, he wasn't sure he wanted to know. But they smiled at him, warm and bright and pulled him into a hug that felt like a dream. Held him close to their loud heart and soul as they whispered silently how much they loved him. How they thanked the gods to have met him, to know him and have him there to anchor them even when he seemed distant. And gods, do they know this seems sudden but they _love_ him and they knew he had a hard time listening to these words with all that noise clouding his heart, but they'd be damned if they wouldn't still try and tell him everyday until he could hear again.

They let go, and smiled loudly.

_Gaius could hear it, loud and clear._

**Author's Note:**

> Man 700 words feels like a lot more when typing them out, rainy quiet days sure make me wanna write I guess, so take this short story that yet again, features poor sad Gaius.
> 
> Will I ever give this guy a break?  
> Probably not lmao


End file.
